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One of the most successful winter sports seasons in the history of MIT athletics has propelled the Engineers to fourth place in the nation in the final winter standings of the Division III Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, released by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). Led by top-10 finishes in NCAA Championship events in men’s basketball and men’s and women’s swimming and diving, MIT scored 272.75 points during the winter sports season, the second-highest total of any program in the nation.

MIT now has a total of 542.72 points in the Cup standings, trailing only Washington University, Middlebury College and Amherst College. The first-ever Final Four appearance by the Engineer men’s basketball team led the way for MIT in the winter season, with the team scoring 83 points in the Cup totals. MIT’s men’s swimming and diving squad finished fourth at the NCAA Championships last week, with the women’s team placing eighth, its best finish at the national meet. Also making NCAA Championship appearances and scoring points for the Engineers were men’s indoor track and field (14th), women’s indoor track and field (21st) and women’s fencing (24th).

A measure of overall success of collegiate athletics programs, the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between NACDA and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 18 sports — nine women’s and nine men’s.